Single parent soldiers juggle war and parenthood

Single parent soldiers juggle war and parenthood
Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2012
By Robert Gray
Sgt. Richard Carreon gained custody of his son while fighting in Afghanistan.

He got the e-mail from his ex-wife February 2011. It said that his then 8-year-old son was in the hospital, and soon Carreon learned why: He had been neglected under her care.

His tour over, Carreon was stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Three months later, the Army sent him to Fort Bliss, to a city entirely foreign to him and his son.

Carreon became one of more than 2,000 single parent soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss. Nearly 1,200 of them have children living with them full-time.

As the post has grown, so has the number of soldiers like Carreon, who juggle the demands of war and parenthood without a spouse to help. Many, being new to El Paso, don't have family or friends to support them.

"We have to find creative ways to do things," Carreon says.

The Army knows little about them. The Department of Defense has studied everything from suicide and motorcycle accidents to lightning strike injuries and bee stings, but it hasn't written much about single parent soldiers.
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